The Hindu Business Line : ‘Auction four 3G slots for Gujarat, Delhi also’

New Delhi, Nov. 9 The Bharti Group’s Chairman, Mr Sunil Mittal, has urged the Government to accommodate four operators in each circle for offering third generation services in order to make it accessible and equally affordable to all.

According to the guidelines issued by the Department of Telecom, there are only 2 slots in Delhi and Gujarat due to non-availability of spectrum. In Rajasthan and North East, there will be no 3G operator. In all other circles, the DoT has provided for 4 operators.

Letter to DoT

In a letter to the DoT Secretary, Mr P. J. Thomas, the Bharti Group’s Chief said, “I would like to point out that the auction of only two slots for Delhi and Gujarat will create scarcity premium in these two circles, putting them at serious disadvantage vis-a-vis other circles . Why should a Delhi customer or the operator suffer the scarcity premium compared to, say Mumbai?”

To deal with the non-availability of spectrum in these regions, Mr Mittal has suggested that the Government could give the currently available radio waves to the top two bidders, while the third and fourth players can be chosen with the assurance that spectrum will be allocated by June 2010 when the Defence is expected to vacate more frequency bands.

“The auction is expected to close in February and the operators would require a few months to roll out the network, and therefore, even if there is delay until June, there will not be any serious negative consequence,” Mr Mittal stated.

Mr Mittal said that while the auctions in Rajasthan and North East will not be part of the upcoming auction, efforts must be made to clear the four slots in these circles at the earliest.

Delay likely

If the DoT accepts Mr Mittal’s suggestion, then the auction process could get further delayed since the entire issue may have to be sent back to the Group of Ministers.

The GoM headed by the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, had decided on the number of slots to be auctioned for 3G service in each circle. Therefore any change in that could need the ratification by the GoM.

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